The Colgate women’s soccer team took on Navy this past Saturday in Annapolis, Maryland. It was a tough battle that re­sulted in its second tied game of 1-1 in the Patriot League season.

Navy began the game with an offensive­ly aggressive start. It gave the Raiders ab­solutely no time to settle into any rhythm and took a series of shots in the first five minutes and overall dominated the offen­sive play. Luckily, junior co-captain and goalkeeper Ashley Walsh was able to keep the ball out of the net.

Navy’s offensive attack lit a fire under the Raiders and they counterattacked with a pair of tough shots by first-year forward Caroline Brawner. Unfortunately, they could not make it to the back of the net and Navy’s goalkeeper, Alexes Lopez-Shaw, stopped both shots.

Navy came back with another strong offensive attack in the final minutes of the period. Although they outshot the Raider’s 7-1 in that end portion of the game, Colgate was able to maintain the score at 0-0 until the end of the half by playing strong defense.

The second half started in the reverse. Colgate came out hungry for the first goal of the game. Its aggressiveness out of the start paid off when they earned a penalty off a foul in the box only 50 seconds into the half. Junior midfielder Elise Amioka took the kick but was unfortunately denied by Navy’s goalkeeper.

The Raiders’s efforts to score were not made in vain, however, because only 30 seconds later, senior co-captain Danielle Wessler made a phenomenal pass to junior forward Jillian Kinter. Kinter was able to make a long run and shoot the ball to give Colgate the first goal of the game.

The rest of the half was an even back and forth between Navy and Colgate until the final twenty minutes of the game when the intensity from both teams picked up notice­ably. Navy was fighting to tie up the game while Colgate was looking for a goal to cushion its lead. Unfortunately, with few­er than seven minutes on the clock, Navy capitalized on a corner kick. This put the game at a score of 1-1 and sent the teams into overtime.

“The game against Navy was definitely a battle,” junior goalkeeper and co-captain Ashley Walsh remarked. “Both teams fought hard throughout regulation and both over­times. Unfortunately, our team had a defen­sive breakdown with not much time left in the game which Navy capitalized on.”

Moving into the overtime, it was Navy who generated most of the offensive play. They kept Colgate on the defensive and forced it to protect its net. Navy took six shots on Colgate during the first overtime period. The second overtime was played similar to the first with Navy still pursuing the final goal and the Raiders mainly play­ing a defensive strong. However, even with 20 minutes of additional play, the Raiders were able to keep Navy at bay leaving the game with a final score of 1-1.

“While it was a bit disappointing to give up the lead with so little time left in the game,” Head Coach Kathy Brawn said, “it was impressive that our players didn’t let the momentum swing defeat them. Grab­bing a point on the road, (teams get 1 point for a tie and 3 for a win), keeps us in strong contention to get into the league tourney and also keeps us alive to possibly host.”

With only three games left in their Pa­triot League season, the Raiders seem to be in a good position.

“Being at home for our final three league games is fantastic,” Coach Brawn said.”We are counting on a strong fan presence to help create an energetic Raider Nation at­mosphere. Lafayette comes in Friday with a 4-0 record and Lehigh is the defending con­ference champion. We are playing dynamic, attacking soccer so these games promise to be exciting.”

Colgate will play two games next week, both at home. They will host Lafayette on Friday, October 21 and Lehigh on Saturday October 23.

Contact Tira Hastings at [email protected].